When Did You Get Old?

[Passacaglia]

It's interesting that no one has said they're not old based on this.

[B & B]

23?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

It's interesting that no one has said they're not old based on this.

I think that was what was implied by those of us who were saying things like "Seriously, I was old at 16?"

SI

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

So what you are trying to say, is once people get taste they are old? Once they stop following the herd and beating their own drum?

I look at it as being out of touch more than anything. Like I posted earlier, I didn't necessarily like most of the songs on that list that I could identify, but I damn sure heard them all the time and knew them, regardless if I wanted to or not. Since around 1995 for me, I have been out of touch with what's popular (not just in music, but other things I'm sure) and that is a pretty good sign that I was "old" at that point.

I have also cited (here as well as other places, I'm sure) the movie Clueless as being my first indication that I was getting old. And funny enough, that movie came out in 1995. The depiction of high school might as well have been 20 years beyond when I graduated (1989). The fact that I was 6 years removed from high school floored me. I had never seen a cell phone at school, and every kid in that movie had one, not to mention the slang they used was almost completely foreign to me (as a couple of examples).

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I think that was what was implied by those of us who were saying things like "Seriously, I was old at 16?"

SI

What I mean is that no one on here has said anything to the effect of, "yeah, I know all the songs in the 2000s, so I'm not old at all"

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Since this tripped up a number of you...

YouTube - Brandy - The Boy Is Mine featuring Monica (1998)

I remember it because I though Monica was rather attractive.

I remember the song, I don't think it had a particularly catchy chorus or anything. Not really a standard summer type song.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I look at it as being out of touch more than anything. Like I posted earlier, I didn't necessarily like most of the songs on that list that I could identify, but I damn sure heard them all the time and knew them, regardless if I wanted to or not. Since around 1995 for me, I have been out of touch with what's popular (not just in music, but other things I'm sure) and that is a pretty good sign that I was "old" at that point.

I have also cited (here as well as other places, I'm sure) the movie Clueless as being my first indication that I was getting old. And funny enough, that movie came out in 1995. The depiction of high school might as well have been 20 years beyond when I graduated (1989). The fact that I was 6 years removed from high school floored me. I had never seen a cell phone at school, and every kid in that movie had one, not to mention the slang they used was almost completely foreign to me (as a couple of examples).

FYI, that movie is not supposed to be realistic, and hardly anyone had cell phones in high school in 1995.

[Sun Tzu]

Yeah, that wasn't until 1998.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I look at it as being out of touch more than anything. Like I posted earlier, I didn't necessarily like most of the songs on that list that I could identify, but I damn sure heard them all the time and knew them, regardless if I wanted to or not. Since around 1995 for me, I have been out of touch with what's popular (not just in music, but other things I'm sure) and that is a pretty good sign that I was "old" at that point.

I have also cited (here as well as other places, I'm sure) the movie Clueless as being my first indication that I was getting old. And funny enough, that movie came out in 1995. The depiction of high school might as well have been 20 years beyond when I graduated (1989). The fact that I was 6 years removed from high school floored me. I had never seen a cell phone at school, and every kid in that movie had one, not to mention the slang they used was almost completely foreign to me (as a couple of examples).

But at the same time not being able to hum them doesn't mean that I wouldn't recognize them if they were played. Would I know what the song was? No, but that's more because I don't like that type of music then anything else. I think the problem with the qualifying of what makes you old is that the person that wrote the article expects you to know the name of the song and the artist just by name alone...

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

But at the same time not being able to hum them doesn't mean that I wouldn't recognize them if they were played. Would I know what the song was? No, but that's more because I don't like that type of music then anything else. I think the problem with the qualifying of what makes you old is that the person that wrote the article expects you to know the name of the song and the artist just by name alone...

Being able to hum the melody means you are intimately familiar with the song; have heard it over and over. I could probably tell you what Waterfalls was if I heard an R&B song with that word in the chorus, but that doesn't mean I should include that as a song I know from this list. Or even if I heard it and said, "Oh yeah, I've heard that song once or twice," it still doesn't qualify, IMO.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

FYI, that movie is not supposed to be realistic, and hardly anyone had cell phones in high school in 1995.

My brother graduated high school in 1993, and while not everyone had cell phones, a surprising number of kids did. OTOH, I believe we had a few people with beepers at my high school between 1986 and 1989, and those were the known/suspected drug dealers.

All I know is, my soon-to-be wife and I sat in that theater with a bunch of high school kids watching that movie and came out incredibly depressed about how old we felt.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Being able to hum the melody means you are intimately familiar with the song; have heard it over and over. I could probably tell you what Waterfalls was if I heard an R&B song with that word in the chorus, but that doesn't mean I should include that as a song I know from this list. Or even if I heard it and said, "Oh yeah, I've heard that song once or twice," it still doesn't qualify, IMO.

Once again though, just because I don't recognize the name doesn't mean I can't hum it...

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

My brother graduated high school in 1993, and while not everyone had cell phones, a surprising number of kids did. OTOH, I believe we had a few people with beepers at my high school between 1986 and 1989, and those were the known/suspected drug dealers.

Wow really? I graduated in 1994 and don't remember anyone having a cell phone, and I just about knew and got along with everyone at school. There were a number of people with pagers (me included). Where did you grow up West Beverly High?

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Once again though, just because I don't recognize the name doesn't mean I can't hum it...

I'd say you should be able to instantly recognize a song on this list both by name and/or artist and melody. The only song of those I "recognize" that I can say I don't remember the melody to is that Lisa Loeb song. But I have enough of a recollection of that song - the video mostly, I guess, as well as how many times I remember hearing/seeing it - that I will include it as one I know. I jsut haven't heard it since...1994 probably! There aren't any songs on that list that I would include as a song I know where if I heard the song, I would realize that I know it and could hum the melody.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Wow really? I graduated in 1994 and don't remember anyone having a cell phone, and I just about knew and got along with everyone at school. There were a number of people with pagers (me included). Where did you grow up West Beverly High?

I went to high school in Georgia. He went to high school in South Florida (Extreme East-West Beverly High).

[path12]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

So what you are trying to say, is once people get taste they are old? Once they stop following the herd and beating their own drum?

I think it's more that top-40 music is more relevant to most of us in our teen and young adult years. I know my taste has changed dramatically over the years and continues to, which is the main reason I don't recognize the later stuff on that list despite being pretty tuned into the indie/electronic genre.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I'd say you should be able to instantly recognize a song on this list both by name and/or artist and melody. The only song of those I "recognize" that I can say I don't remember the melody to is that Lisa Loeb song. But I have enough of a recollection of that song - the video mostly, I guess, as well as how many times I remember hearing/seeing it - that I will include it as one I know. I jsut haven't heard it since...1994 probably! There aren't any songs on that list that I would include as a song I know where if I heard the song, I would realize that I know it and could hum the melody.

I don't even know 90% of the song names of my favorite band though. I guess I'm just not a song name type of person.

I'm much better at being able to listen to the first part of a song I've never heard and recognizing that it is most likely on the same album as another song that I've heard... If that makes any sense. Much easier to do with real music then the programmed stuff...

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Wow really? I graduated in 1994 and don't remember anyone having a cell phone, and I just about knew and got along with everyone at school. There were a number of people with pagers (me included). Where did you grow up West Beverly High?

I graduated in 1997 and I remember my early high school years- 1994/1995 that beepers were becoming the craze and that continued on through when I graduated. At that point, you started seeing a few- like 1 in 100, maybe 1 in 10 few- people with cell phones.

SI

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I have also cited (here as well as other places, I'm sure) the movie Clueless as being my first indication that I was getting old. And funny enough, that movie came out in 1995. The depiction of high school might as well have been 20 years beyond when I graduated (1989). The fact that I was 6 years removed from high school floored me. I had never seen a cell phone at school, and every kid in that movie had one, not to mention the slang they used was almost completely foreign to me (as a couple of examples).

I graduated from high school in 1995. I did not know a single student with a cell phone.

[Ksyrup]

I remember my brother wanting one because a bunch of kids at his school had just gotten them. Fast forward 15+ yearrs, and now 8 year olds are begging for them like 16 year olds used to.

[Autumn]

That's a pretty good idea. I don't quite agree with the song selections they used (doesn't quite make sense to use a UB40 cover of an older song, for example). But it's a good indicator. I always used to tell myself I'd keep listening to new music even when I was "old" but things don't work that way.

I was 24 when I got old I guess.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Radii

I graduated from high school in 1995. I did not know a single student with a cell phone.

Yeah, I think that was probably the sort of thing that was bigger in Beverly Hills than elsewhere. None at my school in '93.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

August 1995: "Waterfalls" -- TLC

At 22 then, summer after graduating from college.

I'd be amazed if you didn't recognize the video...it was pretty awesome effects-wise.

[Zelig]

29 - but I was with a 17 year old then so I didn't feel very old.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Logan

I'd be amazed if you didn't recognize the video...it was pretty awesome effects-wise.

Well, prepare to be amazed then.

I looked it up on YouTube today and I did not recognize the video or the song. I didn't have cable during college (91-95...dorms and other campus-owned housing didn't have it), so I didn't watch a lot of videos from that period. Or afterwards, for that matter.

[CamEdwards]

30 for me. Looking back at the events that year (birth of twins, new job, etc.) probably caused me to pay less attention to frivolous shit.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Or maybe I just have better taste in music then the shit this list has on it the last 12 years?

I don't think whether or not you liked the song has all that much to do with whether it was popular enough to have penetrated your consciousness. I think the gap between even the most remote "like" or even "found tolerable for what it was" versus "recognizable enough that I'm pretty sure I know the melody well enough to at least fake humming it" was 13 years for me. And I suspect that's a fairly normal situation, if not the size of the gap then at least the existence of it.

But boy, once I hit the wall I really hit it. I have only the slightest awareness of the existence by title of only 3 of the last 9 songs, much less having no clue how to hum any of them.

[Cringer]

OK, so I don't think this works for me, or I was old at 3 or 4.

August 1977: "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" --Andy Gibb
August 1978: "Miss You" -- Rolling Stones
August 1979: "My Sharona" -- the Knack Yes - and I was 2
August 1980: "Magic" -- Olivia Newton-John
August 1981-- "Jessie's Girl" -- Rick Springfield Yes
August 1982 -- "Eye Of The Tiger" -- Survivor Yes
August 1983: "Every Breath You Take" -- the Police Yes
August 1984: "Ghostbusters" -- Ray Parker Jr. Yes
August 1985: "The Power of Love" -- Huey Lewis & the News Yes
August 1986: "Papa Don't Preach" -- Madonna Yes
August 1987: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" -- U2
August 1988: "Roll With It" -- Steve Winwood
August 1989: "Right Here Waiting" -- Richard Marx
August 1990: "Vision of Love" -- Mariah Carey
August 1991: "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" --Bryan Adams Yes
August 1992: "Baby Got Back" -- Sir Mix-A-Lot Yes
August 1993: "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You --UB40
August 1994: "Stay (I Missed You)" -- Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories Yes
August 1995: "Waterfalls" -- TLC Yes
August 1996: "Macarena" -- Los Del Rio Yes
August 1997: "I'll Be Missing You" -- Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
August 1998: "The Boy Is Mine" -- Brandy & Monica
August 1999: "Genie in a Bottle" -- Christina Aguilera Yes
August 2000: "It's Gonna Be Me" -- 'N Sync
August 2001: "Bootylicious" -- Destiny's Child
August 2002: "Hot In Herre" -- Nelly Yes
August 2003: "Crazy In Love -- Beyonce featuring Jay-Z
August 2004: "Confessions Part II" -- Usher
August 2005: "We Belong Together" -- Mariah Carey
August 2006: "Promiscuous" -- Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland
August 2007: "Big Girls Don't Cry" -- Fergie
August 2008: "Leavin'" -- Jesse McCartney


So if you go by groupings of Yes (I know the song) then I either became old in 1987 at the age of 10, or 1997 at the age of 20. I prefer to think I became old when I first started yelling at people for being in my yard or around my house, which was at about 28.

[Voo]

Originally Posted by Cringer

OK, so I don't think this works for me, or I was old at 3 or 4.

August 1983: "Every Breath You Take" -- the Police Yes
August 1997: "I'll Be Missing You" -- Puff Daddy & Faith Evans

Even if you think you don't know it, you actually do.

[stevew]

lol. Good catch Voo

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

What I mean is that no one on here has said anything to the effect of, "yeah, I know all the songs in the 2000s, so I'm not old at all"

I could pretty much sing anything on the list except Vision of Love and would have struggled with the brandy but I remember the silly part from the opening
I never have been one to listen to anything but the radio in the car. Those who listen to CDs could have easily missed most of the garbage on this list. A lot of these songs were impossible to miss on top 40 radio.

[Wolfpack]

I also apparently "got old" at 22 in 1998, which was when I graduated from college and also about the time IMO that the world of music went plunging into the toilet never to recover (I have bought maybe a dozen CDs this decade, pretty much all from artists/bands that existed prior to 2000).

Actually, I think my first sign that I was getting old was when I became older than a Playboy Playmate, which I think was in 1995 (of course, the playmate was 18, if I recall correctly). Since then I think my "get off my lawn" moments have climbed exponentially....

[Grammaticus]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Since this tripped up a number of you...

YouTube - Brandy - The Boy Is Mine featuring Monica (1998)

I remember it because I though Monica was rather attractive.

That's not Brandy, it's Moesha.

[aran]

1997 for me. I'm 23. There are some songs after '97 that I recognize, but not more than one in a row. Some of those songs I've heard of but can't hum the melody.

Apparently I was old at the age of 11.

Or I just developed a taste of music and used the internet instead of the radio to find new artists and guide my listening.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Logan

I'd be amazed if you didn't recognize the video...it was pretty awesome effects-wise.

By 1995, I don't think I was watching videos anymore. MTV certainly wasn't showing them much. And by then, I think I had pretty much stopped watching MTV. Last time I can recall watching MTV for more than a fleeting glimpse of some show that happened to be on was the Real World season when Pedro had AIDS. When was that - 93, 94, maybe? I don't think I've watched anything on MTV since then.

It's interesting how everything for me is pointing to 1995, not just this list of songs.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Actually, I think my first sign that I was getting old was when I became older than a Playboy Playmate, which I think was in 1995 (of course, the playmate was 18, if I recall correctly). Since then I think my "get off my lawn" moments have climbed exponentially....

That's an interesting gauge - and one that could be spun different ways.

1. First Playmate you're older than (Jan '93 - Echo Johnson, January 11, 1974)
2. Last Playmate you're younger than (Jan '03 - Rebecca Ramos, August 26, 1967)*
3. First Playmate to be born after you could legally buy Playboy - TBD


* eh, she's an outlier that kind of messes this up. Kind of like Kathy Shower and Susie Owens did in the '80s. Ah well.

[3ric]

1998 or 1999 - when I was 27-28, pretty much accurate, I'd say

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by lungs

Ignoring the musical aspect, I got old when I couldn't polish off a bottle of Old Thompson Whiskey in one sitting without pissing myself.

No that has nothing to do with age and everything to do with hitting the "perfectly preserved" stage of life...